SEVILLE – The Andalucian Tourist Housing Association (AVVA) publicly denounces ‘the incomprehensible discrimination’ of the regional government. This excludes holiday home rentals among the tourist accommodation ‘in an unfair and arbitrary way’ from the distribution of aid.
“Thousands of jobs and families, directly and indirectly, depending on this sector, see today how the Junta de Andalucía denies them bread and salt,” said AVVA‘s president Carlos Pérez-Lanzac. AVVA qualifies the action of the Junta de Andalucía as “inappropriate” in a press release reported by Diario de Sevilla.
€72.8million in aid
He was referring to the decree on aid to the tourism industry approved by the Andalucian government on Tuesday. This support includes €72.8million for accommodations such as hotels, apartments, camping sites and rural complexes. And is to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus health crisis on the sector.
‘Largest aid package ever’ in Spain
In a press conference, The Minister of Tourism, Juan Marín detailed the aid package. He then went on to say it was the “largest package of aid aimed at tourism ever released in Spain”. A total of €105million worth of helplines were approved for the tourism sector in Andalucia in recent weeks.
Pérez-Lanzac regrets that “the Andalucian government is turning its back on the professionals, self-employed and SMEs who pay taxes. They generate a significant part of the economy in the region, in favour of large hotel companies. It is these large establishments which are becoming financially supported with millions of euros ”.
Holiday home rentals sector disparaged and abused
The institution finds it reprehensible that the regional Ministry of Tourism ‘belittles and maltreats’ an entire sector. A sector that accounts for more than half of all beds in the tourist sector in Andalucia. In AVVA’s view, it “is precisely this sector that meets the growing demand” in the international markets for housing for tourists and rural tourism. This is because of the “higher level of security and privacy” compared to “traditional and massive” accommodation options.
AVVA files a complaint
According to AVVA, these holiday homes generate €1.2billion in the southern Spanish autonomous region. Of this, 63% has a direct impact on local shops, restaurants, car rental and similar local services. “When it comes to distributing financial aid, they completely forget about us in the most painful and inappropriate way possible,” added the president. Furthermore, for this reason the association “will not comply” with this situation and files a complaint with the government administration.
AVVA is an organisation that represents 9,000 homes for tourist use. And therefore consists of companies, professionals and owners dedicated to the management of those homes in Andalucia. Moreover, the aim of the association is to offer competitiveness and quality guarantees to this segment.
